


Better Than Silence

by JunheesBleps



Series: October 2019 [2]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Anxiety, Horror, Minor Injuries, Panic, Panic Attacks, Paranoia, it's not as bad as it sounds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 03:03:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21246419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JunheesBleps/pseuds/JunheesBleps
Summary: When they enter the tunnels, Chan's last expectation is to get lost from everybody else. As urban explorers, he really should have known better than to split them into groups. But that's the last thing on his mind, because right now he's trying to keep the air flowing to his lungs and find his way back to his friends.Or; Chan gets separated from the other boys while exploring an abandoned tunnel system and promptly panics.





	Better Than Silence

**Author's Note:**

> First thing's first, I went through with the name change! So uh, don't report me for stealing my own work please lol. Secondly, I'm sorry this is out so late. I've been overwhelmed with work and college, the norm. I have a WIP but it's much longer and deals with a heavy topic, so I figured I'd save it for another day. 
> 
> Alright, now for the story. 
> 
> WARNINGS: I included "horror" as a tag, but it has to do with Chan panicking rather than there being something in the tunnels after him. He does panic, but it's vaguely written. He also gets mildly injured, but like with the panic attack it's also vaguely written. No extra details.
> 
> That being said, if you want to follow and message me, you can [here.](https://twitter.com/Junheesbleps)
> 
> I loosely based this off of a urbex channel, can you guess which one? 
> 
> And that's it! Have a Happy Halloween and stay safe, Stays. I'll try to have another story up for my October series, but since I have work tomorrow... well. We'll see. 
> 
> Nine or None!!

Chan isn’t the kind of person to get panicked easily. It takes a lot to make him panic, or get overly emotional in general. In this kind of situation, even then he would be more logical and level-headed. 

But then again, Chan normally isn’t in a man-made underground tunnel system, long forgotten and abandoned. He doesn’t know where his friends are. They haven’t answered any of his shouts, and he doesn’t even know where he himself currently is.

With only a flashlight for visibility, Chan can barely tell left from right at the moment and his breathing and heart rate is rapidly increasing.

* * *

They are urban explorers, Chan and his decently sized group of friends. They travel to abandoned places around the world and document them for other people who can’t do the same to be able to witness it. Typically they stick to above-ground structures; such as houses and hospitals and even ghost towns.

This is only their second time underground in their explorations, and Chan hates it far more than any other location. Just walking down the stairs had been stifling by itself - and in hindsight maybe it was a warning to turn back. 

It had been his own damn idea to split into three teams for easier exploration purposes. The nine of them had known the tunnels were large and expansive, but only now does it truly settle into his mind just how deep this system really runs. 

He had gotten separated from his own designated group - which consisted of himself, Woojin, and Minho - when he got distracted. One moment he was only a step or two behind them and the next they’re nowhere in sight. 

Truthfully, Chan wants to cry. The first few minutes alone were fine; he had simply jogged a little to catch up only to realize the path split off into several more. Shouting had done nothing, he couldn’t hear their footsteps or voices. 

Chan could only hear his own breathing, pulse, and his footsteps. Helpless, he had only stood there for a few minutes and tried to collect his thoughts. But the more the silence had beaten down on him, the less control he had over that. 

And now he had decided to turn back, and wait for them where they’d first entered. With his mind made up, he turns around and starts on his way back. The initial crunch of his shoes on the pebbles and grains of rock has him wincing, but he’s able to push through it for the sake of leaving. He forces himself to breathe steadily and walks. 

He walks, and walks, and walks, until he realizes with a rush of terror some minutes later that there’s no way the exit would be this far back. He would have come across it by now, without a doubt. 

_ No _ , he’s overthinking it. Of course it would feel like a longer travel distance, right? He’s alone, without the company that would usually have him in tears from laughing.

Or that’s what Chan tells himself, but as he keeps moving forward the exit never shows up. Was he supposed to turn there? Or a few hundred feet back? 

Chan isn’t the kind of person to get panicked easily. It takes a lot to make him panic, or get overly emotional in general. In this kind of situation, even then he would be more logical and level-headed. Getting lost isn’t such a big deal on most occasions.

But then again, Chan normally isn’t in a man-made underground tunnel system, long forgotten and abandoned. To top things off, he doesn’t know where his friends are. They haven’t answered any of his shouts, and he doesn’t even know where he himself currently is. He almost feels like they’re playing a cruel joke, but Chan knows Woojin and Minho of all people wouldn’t do that to him.

With only a flashlight for visibility, Chan can barely tell left from right at the moment and his breathing and heart rate is rapidly increasing.

His hands are starting to shake, the edges of the light from his flashlight trembling accordingly. Foolishly, he pulls out his phone, only for his hopes to get squashed. It really is no surprise that there’s no service, they’re miles out of the city and fucking  _ underground _ . Numbly, he pockets his phone again and turns around. Maybe he can make it back to that fork in the path and come across his group.

But as Chan walks, nothing is familiar to him anymore. It all looks the same. There are painted arrows from previous urbex groups, but they all blend together and don’t make sense to him. Then again, nothing makes much sense beyond his mind repeating just how lost he is, how he’s never going to be found, nine will go down to eight because the others will have to leave him behind to get help but by then it’ll be too late and they’ll find his b-

Chan sees movement, from the corner of his eye. He whips around, but there’s nothing down that path. He waits with bated breath for  _ any _ of the boys to walk towards him, only for the silence and darkness to show themselves. Another shift of movement from the original direction he had been going down, only for there to be more nothingness. 

A hysterical laugh threatens to bubble up but he swallows it down. He’s hallucinating now, just perfect. Chan only makes it a few shaky steps forward before the shadows move around something again, and though he  _ knows _ it’s a hallucination caused by his own panic, his fight-or-flight response kicks in and suddenly he’s running before his own thoughts catch up. He cannot bring himself to stop running now, desperate to find his friends and leave, but it only feeds the panic in a never-ending loop.

He feels like he is being suffocated, less air getting to his lungs with each hasty inhale. The walls are closing in and the shadows dance around and lunge at him mockingly. He flinches each time, and nearly has a heart attack when his flashlight flickers warningly. Of all times to run low on battery, why  _ now? _

He crashes into walls and debris but he keeps sprinting until he’s forcibly stopped by his shoes slipping from a rough and slippery patch of the ground, and then he’s falling. At the speed Chan had been running there’s no hope of catching himself, but he still instinctively flails his arms as his feet are jerked out from underneath him. 

Chan does actually manage to plant one hand on the ground, but it doesn’t do much help when his back crashes down onto something hard and his head bounces off of the floor. A whoosh of air leaves his lungs at the impact in the form of a grunt, but that’s all he can manage. 

Stunned, he lays there panting while his vision makes its slow return. The flashlight, which is still somehow miraculously in his hand, flickers another time or two, and he chokes out a sob. The throbbing pain from his body is paralyzing, but Chan doesn’t think he has much willpower left anyway. Distantly, he hears a sound from further down the path. It takes a moment for it to register, and by the time he’s ready to dismiss it and the moving shadow in front of him, a face pops into the light followed by two more. Chan is startled at first but the moment he recognizes Jisung, Changbin, and Felix, he relaxes with a relieved sigh and reaches up for them. 

He’s surrounded by warm hands and comfort as they sit him up - and even if it is extremely nauseating to be moved, Chan is just grateful to have been found. He can see their mouths moving but he can’t hear anything past the ringing that had accommodated the head rush.

Once that clears up, he unknowingly interrupts them. “Huh?” 

There’s a surprised pauses before Changbin talks, repeating what he had likely already asked. “What happened to you? We heard running and then you falling.” 

“And where are the other two?” Jisung pitches in. They’re all huddled around him, and Chan would find it cute if his brain hadn’t just been scrambled. He’s kneeling down next to him, a hand on Chan’s back to keep him steady. Changbin is squatting down opposite of Jisung while gripping firmly at his arm. Chan is grateful, he would probably be swaying otherwise.

“Uh,” Chan begins smartly. “We got separated. Couldn’t find them, so I panicked.” It is definitely the abridged version, but he already feels dumb without tacking in how he’d started hallucinating and thought he wouldn’t make it out of here; though maybe the second part is hinted with how he had been running.

Felix is the one crouching over his legs, Chan finally notices, hands on his thighs to steady himself. He reminds Chan of a frog and he almost laughs. Something must show on his face because Changbin nudges his shoulder to refocus his attention. “How did you get separated? Did something happen?” 

Chan grants them a miniscule shake of his head, not wanting the pain to flare up. “No. I, um. I got distracted. I guess they didn’t hear me stop walking.” This is so embarrassing. 

“We should probably head back and wait for them. Are you hurt?” Jisung asks, already moving to help him stand up. 

Chan has to consider it for a moment. “Probably,” He concedes with a shamed blush. “I don’t think it’s too bad, though.” Maybe that was a stretch. Nothing was broken, but his head and back sure were stinging. 

The three exchange unsure glances. “Should we carry him?” Felix asks. 

Miffed that he’s been excluded from the conversation when it’s about him, he does his best to gather his feet underneath him and stand up. “I can walk, nobody has to carry me.” His protests go unheard when they glare and simultaneously tighten their grips on him to keep him in place. 

“I can carry him, so long as somebody walks in front to make sure I don’t trip over debris. Oh, and somebody has to carry the equipment.” Changbin reasons, ignoring the playful groaning that Felix and Jisung let out. 

It takes some shuffling to get Chan onto Changbin’s back and for the bag of equipment to be transferred to Jisung. Felix ends up carrying the camera, after ending the recording. They make it to the exit without incident, though Chan is still a little too dazed to be paying much attention. Despite his initial protesting, he is glad that somebody’s carrying him; he doubts he could have walked all the way back.

They sit on the steps while the wait for the remaining two groups, and thankfully it’s not a long wait. Hyunjin, Seungmin, and Jeongin are the first to appear, and while waiting for their last two friends, they get filled in. Though they’re mostly concerned for now, Chan knows they will be the first ones to tease him when this is over.

Woojin and Minho show up not much longer after that, more or less running up when they spot Chan. He is properly scolded for being too distracted, but they end up apologizing as well. Chan is just relieved to be back with them, scolding or not. 

Chan is helped up the stairs where they run a check to see if he is actually injured, and if it’s bad enough to warrant a hospital trip. He’s scraped up and already has bruises forming, but there isn’t much to worry over other than maybe a mild concussion. 

The leftover tension leaves his body once they make it outside and by the time they arrive at the van, he is more or less pliant and has to be maneuvered into a seat while the equipment is taken care of. The busy chatter washes over him and is very successful at lulling him into a doze. The boys are just slightly quieter than their normal volume levels, but at the moment even their loudest moments would have been a blessing to Chan. 

After what happened in the tunnels, he thinks that anything is better than silence.


End file.
